When I had both desktop and laptop Macs I felt more comfortable traveling with my MacBook as I was secure in the knowledge that if anything happened to it (damage, theft), I still had a Mac sitting home.
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iPad as a laptop replacement
- Thread starter Omar Comin' Yo
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Longer useful life since it’s not getting dinged while lugging around and no battery that will crap out eventually. Plus running home server stuff 24/7 (for me, Plex and Calibre).
My NAS can run Plex but I just use it purely as network storage.
It's not nothing, I understand. But If your data is properly backed up, would it not be better to have the cash you would have spent on that desktop sitting in your bank account and ready to be used if you needed to replace the lost/stolen MacBook? That desktop is sitting there getting older, while the money can be used to buy an up to date replacement.
These MacBooks are built like tanks. I've had my 14" MacBook Pro for a year and it feels brand new. I can't imagine this laptop would pick up any damage in the next 3-4 years that would impact its ability to serve as a desktop at home. Plus, if the laptop is no longer serving well as a laptop, aren't you just going to replace it anyway, meaning that you've got a new desktop replacement anyway?
The performance of the M1 Pro is fantastic too. It performs better than a brand new 24" iMac, and it's way quieter as well even under full load.
With Apple silicon, I've found you get desktop performance without loud laptop cooling for the first time perhaps ever, thus begging the question as to why I need a desktop at all.
There are still reasons why it would be nice to have a desktop, such as running Plex, or the fact that it's just always there and you never have to bring over a separate device and plug it in. But for me, the only dealbreaker that keeps a desktop computer at my desk is the fact that Windows is still required for PC gaming.
I think in the Apple world, where you have soldered RAM and storage also on desktop now, it's a difference situation. But in the world of Windows, it's way cheaper to have a desktop if you want to have a lot of RAM and storage and you can even have it in a minipc as small as Mac Mini or smaller.
I can easily have 32GB RAM and 10TB SSD or more for around $1000 (you can now find 8TB SATA SSDs for under $400).
Having 8TB of storage and 32GB RAM in an Apple device will cost over $4000 on a Mac Mini and much more on a laptop... And even in Windows laptops, especially the more portable ones, you'll spend several thousand dollars for that. And you are even more limited in your choice if, like me, you want your laptop to have cellular.
For some people internal storage is a must (for instance my 5TB business Onedrive won't work on external storage), let alone the convenience of not having drives attached to your laptop all the time.
I can easily have 32GB RAM and 10TB SSD or more for around $1000 (you can now find 8TB SATA SSDs for under $400).
Having 8TB of storage and 32GB RAM in an Apple device will cost over $4000 on a Mac Mini and much more on a laptop... And even in Windows laptops, especially the more portable ones, you'll spend several thousand dollars for that. And you are even more limited in your choice if, like me, you want your laptop to have cellular.
For some people internal storage is a must (for instance my 5TB business Onedrive won't work on external storage), let alone the convenience of not having drives attached to your laptop all the time.
Agreed, I have 64gb and 4tb in my dell notebook and it cost me less than 800 dollars for both and my ssd has r/w speeds of close to 7000mbs. Not a slow drive at all. Same for my workstation, I have 128gb of ram in that, a 4tb ssd (same one that's in my notebook) plus an 8tb HDD for storage, add in a 512gb and 1tb ssd for project and scratch drive for video editing to make things faster again. In order to get that in an apple based system it's thousands of dollars and extra drives to plug into the back and stacked on your desk.
My ipad is 256gb model. I don't plan on doing major work on it, but I can if needed do most of things I need to...if I need. I have access to my 2tb onedrive storage, and 99 percent of my software is available on it as well. I love cross platform software. I can use everything for everything.
I like the combo of the iMac with the iPad and then use universal control.
For me the Macbook itself doesn't serve an additional purpose. The versatility of the iPad Pro is perfect (for home use and traveling) while the iMac is a great computer for my smaller flat. It's nice looking and doesn't take up a lot of space so I can move it around and put it in my Kitchen/Living Room or my outdoor Terrace
Having to have an external display and all these extra cables would just be annoying for me personally
Precisely. They want you to own multiple of their devices - including the most expensive ones. I'm even shocked that they finally released an entry level 15 inch laptop. For years, businesses and customers who want 15-16 inch display Mac have been forced to buy a $2000-2600 MBP 16 even if they don't need all its power.
I’m guessing Apple’s market analysts figured a $1300 15” MacBook will increase their sales volume more than enough to offset the lower cost versus the MBP.
I expect there are plenty of Windows users they can convert to macOS with a $1300 15” MBA (likely $1100-1200 on sale) who would never consider buying the $2000+ 16” MBP.
That seems sensible financially. But logistically, it‘s a much greater hassle to order a new Mac online (or go to the Apple Store, Best Buy etc.), set it up, restore from backup and re-login to accounts to get up to speed again than to just go to my desktop and turn it on.
Mind you, I’m not talking about spending a fortune here. I currently have a 16” M1 Pro MacBook Pro (which I don’t travel with). Were I go back to the 2-Mac lifestyle (which I’m considering for 2024) I would buy an M2 Pro Mac Mini to connect to the LG 5K UltraFine display I already have, and get the new 15” MacBook Air for portable use and travel. These two devices would cost (assuming purchased on sale or refurb) around the same as what I paid for my 16” inch, which I would sell to help fund the new purchases.
I have low CPU requirements. I used a custom-built i7-920 desktop for like 9-10 years.
If funds were an issue (like it was when I just started working), I’d go laptop only. Since, that’s no longer the case, I like having a separate desktop for the always on nature and being able to use it for background services (Plex, Calibre, bittorrent, etc). Also, instant redundancy in case the laptop fails.
Interesting. For me, redundancy is in the form of my 11" iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard. I could get by for quite a while on that if I had to, certainly long enough to sort out a replacement. I've even done full workdays on the iPad with an external display with Stage Manager just to see if I could. I could - I wouldn't want to, but I could.
For occasions such as this I find that using my iPhone as a hotspot works really well.
My work issued iPad doesn’t have a data plan activated so I end up tethering to my work Samsung phone when working elsewhere than home or the office.
I've found hotspot to be rubbish, personally. It almost never shows up when it should.
Never had an issue with my iphone hotspot. Ran two Tv's off it for a full week while my home internet was down. Worked fine.
Not going to move the needle on market share. Apple users are apple users, and windows/linux users are windows/linux users. M series chips were supposed to bring millions of pc users to the applesphere, and market share stayed basically the same. Hardware has very little to do with people moving to apple, however hardware has much to do with people moving away from apple. But either way it's not enough people to move the scale.
Most pc users that buy a mac, keep their pcs....and vice versa.
It's fine for things like that, but if you actually try to use it every day with a Mac on the go, you may find it is a painful experience. Mine almost never shows up in the menu bar. My iPad's hotspot always shows up, but the iPhone most of the time doesn't.
It works, but it's too much faffing about for me when you are on the go and you have a lot of work to do.
It also gets interrupted rather easily (with just short time of inactivity) and you have to go through the whole process again. It also can heat up the phone a lot and accelerate the battery life loss. Works if you need to do it rarely but if it has to happen on regular basis, would not recommend it.
And if you don't have an iPhone (I have a Samsung) it's even more unreliable, so for me it's cellular all the way (I have several data SIMs)
Yep. Why I bought my Mini 6 - my out-and-about iPad - with cellular.
I also used it previously using my notebooks, previous ipads, and more. Never had an issue. Maybe mine is the anomaly.
I certainly believe you. It seems to be luck based. For some it works perfectly, for others like myself it's just painful.